The Lighter Side
by Scaldabanco
Summary: The full title of 'The Lighter Side Of Falling Over A Table And Your Worst Enemy'. This WAS a oneshot drabble to start off with. James and Lily story, in their seventh year. Love realized, and anger ensues. Reviews are lovely, and really appreciated!
1. A Caring Hand

**A/N: Teaser-shot! Starts here, but next chapters goes from the 'start' of Lily's story.Want to find out what happened after this awkward meeting? Give me a few minutes... Wait, a few months. The story'll show eventually. Although, if you prefer this single chapter on it's own, don't complain about me adding more ; This was my original intention...**

******On the with the show!**

******Prologue. ****  
**

Lily trudged into the common room whilst aggressively pushing her hair behind each ear, having just lost her only hair-band moments ago to a rogue poltergeist named Peeves. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why he had snapped it, but all the same wasn't too thrilled with this new curtain of tresses obscuring her vision. Though, she did notice one thing through her auburn-vision; a slumbering figure stretched out over the threadbare couch and glasses askew, with the dying fire making haphazard light fall over him. A pleasant smile forced it's way through the façade of aggression, though this smile wasn't as forced as usual. '_He actually seemed peaceful and human while he was asleep,'_ she noted dulcetly, reminding herself to never use any of those words in the same sentence again.

Everyone had noticed a change in Potter, but doubtfully anyone had noticed the subtle differences. Perhaps he had embraced the role of Head Boy; perhaps he'd deflated his large ego over the holidays, or even given up his life-long ambition to humiliate Sev – Snape. Lily supposed many things, but she could even guess he was beaten with a large trout by owls; it all amounted to naught in the end. The only way she would get an answer to this pressing question of 'What happened?' was to ask him flat out. Something Lily didn't intend to ask so forwardly if she could help it.

Feeling a slight twinge in the back of her mind about how creepy she must've seemed; standing around in the common room in the dead of night, staring at her supposed arch-nemesis of six full years. This sparked another twinge

_'What if someone does see me standing around?'_ Taking a quick look around the common room, checking that she was not about to be attacked by Alice, who seemed to appear at unfortunate times, she took cushioned steps towards Potter, still gnawing on her bottom lip absent-mindedly. '_I shouldn't, he's a toerag; a completely self-centered, hideous, cruel toerag with messy hair and a creepy dependence on me.'_ All her attempts at convincing herself he was a toerag failed dismally.

She sighed, crossing her arms tightly and stepping away from the back of the couch, her lip raw from chewing on it with such desperation. Taking one last look over her shoulder, Lily scoffed lightly, noticing how stretched his glasses were becoming. His huge head was sliding down the pillow. Without realizing, Lily stepped towards Potter once more, plucking the glasses from his face and placed them gingerly on the table. This was quite a feat, having to lean quickly heavily on the back of the couch. All she could do was hope that she didn't slip or –

A muttered slur came from Potter, sounding a lot like 'Lily'.

Lily was not usually the cursing type, but now freely let a string of weak swear words pour from her mouth, while trying to stand up straight. She only succeeded in her hand slipping and almost surely crushing Potter's ribcage, with all the weight she had on that one hand.

The next few events happened in rapid succession, Lily was almost sure she had received whiplash.

First, her prediction of crushing his ribcage was more or less correct, causing him to double over in surprise and obvious pain. As he sat up so quickly, Lily was sent forwards over him and skidded across the small table beside the couch, stopping mere inches away from the fireplace, which continued to crackle merrily, as if blissfully unaware that it had almost burned all of Lily's hair off. The two sat in unnerving silence for a few moments, before James finally spoke.

'Lily,' he said hesitantly, obviously unsure if had actually seen the petite redhead fly across the room.

Lily was still lying across the floor in front of the fire, hoping he had forgotten she was there. Clearly he hadn't. 'Yes?' she replied, not making any movement to sit up.

'What – Why -' he stuttered for a moment, clearly unsure what to address first. She heard him take a deep breath, before he took a second attempt, 'Why were you lying on me?'

Lily sat up quickly, shooting a nasty look at Potter, 'Potter, I was not _lying _on you.'

'Then what?' he asked, his tone not confused anymore, simply amused at absolutely nothing.

'I was -' She began with a frown, 'you were going to break your glasses if you slept on them. So I took them off for you and I _was _trying to put them on the table, but you had to scare me.'

James's head snapped towards her, his eyebrows furrowed together, 'Excuse me? I didn't _scare_ you. I was sleeping and the next thing I know someone punched me in the stomach.' She complained, rubbing his stomach gingerly.

Lily was standing up now, straightening her robes and looking down her long nose at Potter, 'That's the last time I try and do something nice for you,' she whispered harshly, remembering it was late at night.

James was now standing as well, looking slightly bemused, 'If you think punching people is nice, I don't want to know what you consider mean.' He smirked, though Lily wasn't sure why. It was hardly a smart comment.

Not knowing how to respond, she turned on her heel and strode around the table, couch and prat, making a beeline for the girls' dormitories. It was not until she was secure behind her curtained four-poster bed that she let herself turn off the bitter exterior, and then allow herself to blush and think how stupid she must've looked flying over him and onto the floor. Anyone who knew Lily, knew she wasn't graceful at the best of times, so in such a precarious position... It took all her moral fiber to keep herself from recoiling into a giggling mass of goop, and she didn't want to know why.

There was one positive to the whole situation; she had seen a nicer side to Potter. A frail smile spread across her features and was lulled to sleep by these peaceful thoughts of him being more than a stupid prat.


	2. A Brief Introduction

**A/N: I will be 'starting' at the start of the year, but keeping up te first chapter. Just wait and see ;)**

* * *

I think, before we get into that, we should start from the beginning. Or we should at least go to the beginning of the seventh and final year at Hogwarts for young Lily Evans, who was still fighting the idea of James Potter. For as long as Lily had been at Hogwarts, there had been young James Potter. Arrogant, self-centred and cruel towards others. Well, his positive aspects were probably more numerous, but the less Lily thought of those, the easier it made it for her to hate him.

Though he made that an easy task for himself.

Lily and Severus had been friends since she was young. He was the first person to talk to her about the Wizarding world. But, things turned sour once they set foot on the Hogwarts Express, almost instantly being faced by Sirius Black and, of course, James Potter. At that instant, James Potter had a goal. And Sirius Black had something to rag on his mate about. But I suppose you know all of this garbage I'm spouting, don't you?

Very good then. Well, I suppose we can begin as long as you don't mind judging for yourself. I'm only paid for the first few minutes of the story, you know… Oh, time seems to be up…

* * *

**The Lighter Side**

**  
**

Lily Evans was a seventh year at Hogwarts, and 'of age' in the Wizarding Community. That sentence made her feel quite old, in all honesty.

This was it.

Lily felt a small sense of finality in those three words, and there was obvious reason why. The fact was that she was almost sure she could become a famous – something after graduation. She had yet to decide on what she ultimately wanted to be once she left school, but her 'guts' told her she would be brilliant at it. Just because she seemed to have a lot of self esteem ever since she was appointed Head Girl.

All those years of hard work, dedication and a general sense of achievement within the school had gained her the rightful role of Head Girl. Her parents, both Muggles, knew this WAS impressive. Impressive to the point where he mother broke down in tears, claiming how proud she was of Lily. Her father, a strong, tall man with lean features was never seen to be emotional. Though, Lily swore she saw _something _in his eyes. Petunia had been a right git about the whole situation, however, and proclaimed she was now officially, 'Queen of the Freaks.' This might've been close to a compliment for Petunia.

Lily and Petunia had never been 'close'. Well, they laughed together sometimes, though it was usually **at** one another. But it was never really Lily's intention to upset Petunia. In fact, it was quite the opposite most of the time, when she would try and comfort Petunia about magic, but she would reject it and call Lily a freak…With all that said, Lily did find herself a little happier when Petunia announced she would be moving out with her now-fiancé, Vernon Dursley. They two were made for one another, making snide comments about Lily whenever she would mention her school. _Somehow_ Vernon had found out about Lily being a witch. Petunia insisted that he was just extremely smart.

Lily doubted this quite a lot.

* * *

'I still think this shade of tangerine would go _so_ nicely with the bridesmaids dresses,' Petunia gushed, comparing different shades of pinks, reds and oranges.

'Are you doing this on purpose?' Lily asked while clearly bemused.

'Why, what ever do you mean Lily?' A shocked Petunia asked. Or, acting shocked at the very least.

'I do believe **red**,' she said, gingerly holding up a handful of her long hair, 'Does not go with any of these colours.'

'Oh, I suppose you're right…' Petunia replied, sadly packing away the colours. 'How about this then?' She held up a ludicrous shade of magenta, causing Lily's face to shrivel up to that of a lemon. The two sat in agreed silence for a moment.

Still, Lily pretended to cry at their wedding in mid-September, but she wasn't sure what possessed her to. Her mother suggested it was because she was losing her sister. Perhaps tears of joy then… In any case, she was convinced it was because of how horrible their first kiss as the Dursleys was. '_Like watching a pig and a horse make-out'_, she thought, perplexed with how their children would look…

As soon as they returned home from the wedding, Lily realized that September the first drew nearer. Lily excused herself from the family party; she instantly sprinted upstairs and ripped off the horrendous dress that resembled a piece of fairy floss. Once she was dressed in something a little more comfortable, she said goodbye to old quills and inkwells, filling her trunk for the last time. Every now and then she would see something that would spark a very nostalgic sense in her. The time her and Severus had first ridden on the Hogwarts Express… There were actually wrappers from it. She could tell, because one of them had his scrawly handwriting on it, exclaiming how Potter was a git.

Lily took her bottom lip under her teeth and began absent-mindedly gnawing on it. She and Severus were so close as kids. Dare she say it; she even thought he might've had a crush on her. But, that'd be assuming too much. At one point, she did feel a slight jitter in her words or a sudden jerk in her heart. But all that sort of fizzled when he called her – a – well… It was the feather that broke the phoenix's back.

Moving on to clothing she hadn't unpacked yet, she began to get bored. Nothing new surfaced from the masses of quills and parchment. She did find a Fizzing Whizzbee, but decided to eat it later. Eating wizard sweets in a Muggle home might be a bad idea… She laughed, imaging Petunia trying to explain to her after-wedding guests why her sister was drifting a foot above the ground. Actually, that might've been fun…

It took Lily the whole of twenty minutes to unpack her trunk. Whilst there were guests, she wasn't allowed to preform magic. This was annoying. In the past, she had been such a proficient packer, able to pack for a trip in under ten minutes. Now, she had gotten lazy and dependant on magic, she didn't need to be so efficient with her packing by hand. With several sighs and stubbed fingers, Lily eventually gave up on packing. It was now close to eight at night, which meant in less than a week she would be settled into a compartment in the Hogwarts Express, travelling to school for the very last time.

She pretended that this was an exciting thought, but she noticed herself absently swiping away a few unexpected tears. It wasn't her way to tear up; it was just – a female mechanism. It wasn't until a week later Lily bothered to begin packing again. At least this time, she had a very strict time limit. Of about ten minutes. Leaving her trunk to the last minute wasn't the most brilliant idea ever, in hindsight…


	3. Learning To Read

**A/N: Not much to say, except a big THANK YOU to Writer of Life aka Yasery on HPFF. She helped with the name of Charlotte Harrison. And also, to my unofficial official beta-reader Jess aka Miss Kass. Longest. Chapter. Ever. **

It seemed, besides the hysteria that Petunia threw when she saw her sister hover down the stairs, that Lily's last trip to Kings Cross would be the best yet. This year, she could look down at all the other students as the highest… Almost like the unofficially queen of Hogwarts! Able to do justice to her help, aid the needy and behead those who crossed her! Well, perhaps not so much the latter, but she could issue detentions. Not that the Lily Evans of Gryffindor, previous Prefect and now Head Girl of Hogwarts, would ever misuse her powers of good and – oh forget it.

'Lily Evans of Gryffindor, previous Prefect and now Head Girl of Hogwarts…' Lily said happily, playing with the maple syrup on her plate. She was imaging how she would be admired, adored, and was able to stick Potter in the dungeons for all eternity…

'Lils, you were talking to yourself again.' Her mother said hesitantly, placing a shoulder tentatively, as if hoping she wouldn't bite.

'Hmm?' She turned to see her father, sister and mother, all looking rather confused at Lily, 'Oh – er – pass the syrup?' She glanced down at the bottle in front of her, before falling deathly quiet. She hadn't actually slept last night, which probably led to this unsettled demeanour now…

She could simply not WAIT to get on the train, and get away from Muggles and back to school.

This longing to return to school was a little shortsighted. She got away from Muggles, but in exchange she received Marauders. '_This wasn't a fair deal!' _She thought glumly, staring uneasily out the car window. There was quite a bit of rain lately, at least for what was supposed to be summer and fall months… Another short-changed event. While Lily didn't LOVE warm weather, it was certainly better than running for cover when she arrived at Kings' Cross. This time, her parents didn't come into platform 9¾. They wished her luck, and told her she was indeed old enough to get in by herself. Petunia carelessly waggled a hoof at Lily, along with Vernon. Both had hoofs, how fitting. Though, Vernon's were much meatier… He wasn't a fat man, of course, just very large… Very, daunting…

Lily cringed, shaking her head. Before her eyes even focused, a large mass of dull purple tackled her. Charlotte Harrison, her best friend.

'Lily! Oh, how were your holidays!?' The young black girl dressed in purple robes cried, almost strangling Lily with hugs. 'Did you get my letters? I mean, you replied and all, but it could've been – well… dark… y'know what I mean…' Her words subsided, as she glanced around suspiciously, as though ever passing Slytherin was going to pull out an axe or something.

All the same, Lily **still** found it amazing that Charlotte wanted to be her best friend. All she did was complain and rant about how mean Potter was to her, and then whine some more… Though, Lily did put up with Charlotte and her '_we're just friends but I really wish he would just ask me out before I kill him, and then it becomes like Romeo and Juliet which would be all his fault, and I'd never let him live it down in the afterlife_' attitude to the cute Hufflepuff boy named Doug Jordan. The past six years had been spent trying to get the other to admit their feelings.

It was also amazing, because Charlotte saw past Lily's empathy and caring nature towards people who generally weren't considered nice at all. People like Severus. Lily and Severus had been very, _very_ good friends, but definitely not in the way that most thought, up till an event in fifth year – but, well, she was standing here gaping at her best friend, spending far too much time reminiscing.

'Charlotte! Of course I got your letters, you duffer! Honestly, I think you'd be able to tell if some Death Eater was replying to you,' Lily laughed, but felt a sudden heavy presence on her words.

_Quick, escape before it gets daunting and awkward, Lily!_

'Oh, did you get a haircut? It looked brilliant.' Lily smiled, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

------

For the next quarter of an hour, Lily stood with Charlotte and her family. Charlotte's sister was starting her first year at Hogwarts this year, which meant she would be absolutely adorable, all dressed up and sorted in no time. Charlotte and Lily had been looking forward to manipulating her into a model student, like the pair of them.

Then the Marauders decided to come and annoy the hell out of Charlotte and Lily, because it seemed they had not done it enough over the past few years.

Yet, they walked straight by, as if they were hot off the London runway.

Lily and Charlotte laughed, shaking their heads and sighing as they strode past, swaggering their hips, and noses held high… Lily swore Black posed several times for some girls, who all instantly started gushing their inner most desires for him.

Remus wasn't as cocky as the other three, keeping a dignified pose about himself, with a book tucked tightly into the nook of his arm and a bored expression.

Peter had gotten a bit cocky. He wasn't impossible to look at, but he certainly wasn't a pleasant character in any sense of the word. He simply followed the mighty words of Black and Potter, the king and queen of Hogwarts. This, of course, was in their own interpretation of the 'king and queen'; she was the true queen of Hogwarts, at least for a year. But, well, back to Peter. Lily swore he gave off this feeling of being a rat – once she saw him eating a cracker in such a way that he seemed… odd-er than he had ever been.

And… Potter. Well, she couldn't bring herself to watch him stride past, casting a sort of 'I'm very good looking, you know, and spend many hours polishing my broom, and ruffling my hair, catching Snitches…'. Pathetic.

Oh yes, pathetic was the word. He was very, **_very_** pathetic if you asked Lily.

------

The pair of Lily and Charlotte had instantly found their favourite haunt, with Charlotte not afraid to kick the first years out of the carriage. Lily had stood, clucking her tongue and examining a loose screw in the doorframe, pretending not to hear their minute protests. Though, with the sudden flood of information, the discussions, the woes, the joys and all in-betweens were exchanged and talked to death… The train had been rattling for about four hours now, and lunch had come and passed. Charlotte had been lulled into a state of consciousness and sleep. Her face would twitch ever time the train turned or slowed a little.

This left Lily, who was smiling behind a thick book, with plenty of time to think and relax without Petunia or Vernon. Or those mysterious notes from a neighbour that expressed some form of love or something… She thought it might've been that creepy boy from number three, but how he managed to find parchment was beyond Lily.

'Well Evans, we're off to a very lovely start this term,' Potter said dryly, making many complex hand movements, all over the right side of his chest. 'The weather,' a tricky flick, 'is especially lovely,' another flick, 'just like a radiant girl I know.'

'Oh Black, did you hear that?' Lily asked, where Black's arrogant smirk was replaced with a confused beam, looking desperately at Potter, 'Potter thinks you're radiant.'

Charlotte made an approving noise, and stayed well clear of the conversation. Lily knew she never fancied conversations with this quartet, or at least if she could help it.

'What, no, I was -' Potter continued his haphazard hand movements, and that was when Lily saw it. And explained his wrist flexing…

It was a badge, much like her own, but with 'HB' rather than 'HG'. She checked her own pin, feeling he must've stolen hers and – no, hers was still pinned to her robes, next to her Prefect badge.

_'Do I still need her Prefect badge? Well, it couldn't hurt, could it? Wait, Potter and a Head Boy badge, no time to focus on my very pretty pins… They were lovely…' _

Lily jumped up, hands on hips and a demanding look on her face. Potter seemed to anticipate this, and beamed happily towards Lily. Though, the rest of the occupants remained still as statues as the two followed out their usual routine.

Her nose now high in the air, Lily frowned down her nose at Potter, (or, up, as she was still shorter than him by a few measly inches…) keeping a dry and unimpressed tone, 'Who was it? Did you beat up Severus for this? Doug Jordan?' Lily asked, her eyes becoming almost comically wide as Potter continued to flash his badge proudly on his chest, as a medal of victory over some poor soul, who would have the reputation of being beaten up by a girl.

This clearly hasn't been the response he had anticipated, 'What?' he said with a furrowed brow together, replacing the proud smile he wore before, 'I got sent this, with my usual letter. Said I was Head Boy and that you were Head Girl…'

'No – No you couldn't possibly have been – wait -' Lily spluttered, fumbling through her bag and withdrew a piece of parchment, the letter that had come with her own badge. She saw it mention who the Head Boy was, but had ignored it… She had been busy with her own thoughts, 'No, you beat up – James… Potter…' her triumphant expression fell faster than her hopes.

'I don't think I did, Lily.' James frowned whilst inspecting himself for damage. The Marauders laughed, in unison.

Charlotte laughed, but quickly covered it with a cough when Lily glowered at her.

'Must you spend your last trip to Hogwarts annoying me?' She groaned, crossing her arms and sulking into her seat.

'My sweet, you think I'm here for my own reasons,' He said, causing Lily to sit up very quickly, 'But I'm actually here because you didn't turn up for the Prefects meeting. I assumed…'

'There was a meet - Oh what a wonderful way to start off!' Lily slapped her forehead.

'There was,' Potter flung a small bundle of letters towards Lily, which she caught moments before it joined her hand on her forehead. 'Orders, passwords, your dress sizes, and your favourite types of flowers, when you lost your…'

A deathly glare shut him up. Lily quickly ripped the letters open, reading them at an incredible speed. Potter was messing with her mind once again. Why would the school even pretend to have such information? Then again, Potter, he was pulling her chain… 'Wait, assumed - what?' Lily said, bluntly, only now reacting to his words.

'Word's going around that you and,' He looked over his shoulder dramatically on either side, before leaning as closely as Lily would permit him to. So, a good meter or two still remained between them. His voice rasped for the next few words, before returning to a boisterous blare, 'Snivellus are an item. Even after fifth year, what a change of -'

'No. There's no such thing going around, that's you being a paranoid toerag who's got nothing better to do, except to throw that sort of 'word' around. See you at the next meeting, Potter.'

'If you turn up, that is,' Potter retorted, starting another chorus of Marauder laughter.

'Oh, I will.' She spat back bitterly as she managed to usher she silent mob out of the compartment, while leaving Charlotte looking into blank space.


	4. And A Dog Named Spot

**A/N: The slighty-pointless yet essencially crucial part of the story. Finally arriving at Hogwarts, and appraising her 'love life' is partly here, and mostly in the next chapter. 'And A Dog Named Spot'**

'Can you-'

'Can I believe how self-centred and confident he is, oh he is a total spaz. I think he should be shot out of the Astronomy Tower with a huge cannon, though as a child I'm sure he was.' Charlotte replied in a deadpan tone, sifting through her bag.

'What's wrong?' Lily asked, feeling a little hurt by her response. She hadn't done anything wrong.

'You're doing it again.'

'Oh… I'm sorry.' It. Lily and Charlotte liked to call Lily's little issues with Potter 'it'. This was because 'it' happened so often that 'it' was unbearable. 'It' was the rants, the complaints, and the general absurdities Lily seemed to crave to point out to Charlotte, and really… anything that spouted from Lily's mouth whenever she finished a conversation with Potter. That was 'it'. 'You know how I get.'

'I do. But it's seventh year,' Charlotte strained with a pleading look, 'you need to learn to let these things just roll,' She made a shifting movement with her shoulders, almost unconsciously, 'off you back, instead of wigging out about it.'

A warm smile reassured Lily. Charlotte wasn't mad, which was always a good thing. 'I honestly don't know how you put up with me,' Lily flushed, 'I am really sorry.'

'Doug and me are going out…'

'You mean Doug and I – I am so happy for you!' Lily absently corrected the statement, before almost jumping out of her seat. She took this new change of subject like an poor orphan to their newfound, real, rich, famous parents with millions of galleons.

Charlotte blushed ever so lightly, 'Yeah, he asked me… wait; I think it was… halfway through the holidays. Found out we live really close to one another…'

'So…' Lily said, raising an eyebrow.

'Oh no, uh-uh, I don't discuss things like that,' Charlotte protested, waving her hands absently.

'Spoil-sport.' Lily noted, sparing a glance at her hands.

'Hardly.'

'I don't want to hear anything, anyway,' Lily reassured her, a starry look coming over her face, similar to that girl in Ravenclaw who always seemed to make 'predictions', Sybil Trelawney or, as she was affectionately named by her peers, Tré Looney. ' "He then lovingly laid me down and stroked my hair out of my sweaty face, before his voice caressed my ears with sweet nothings and promises of a future, with white picket fence and a dog named Spot -" ' A few dramatic hand movements and starry-eyed sobs were quickly silenced as Charlotte threw a peculiar object at Lily.

'Don't be disgusting!' She laughed, pushing her long hair out of her face. 'You really should become a writer, y'know… You come up with enough bull to make one of those cheesy romance novels…'

'Fine, I'll just…' Lily scowled, at the object, 'Alright, so I don't have a boyfriend…' On closer inspection she soon realized that it was in fact a Snitch-shaped cookie with a few pieces of mould growing about it. Lily didn't want to know how long it had been here, and flung it out the window. It took her a minute to register that Charlotte was, once again, talking.

'You do!' Charlotte protested.

'Oh really? When was I going to be told about this arrangement?'

'Potter and you are almost official, you know.' Charlotte noted dryly, inspecting her nails absent-mindedly. 'No guy'll go NEAR you, in fear that he'll hex them. Same with girls and Potter, in fact.'

'Oh, NOW who's disgusting?' Lily retorted, gritting her teeth, 'That is truly a sickening notion. If we got married he'd crush me under the weight of his head. He'd us more beauty products than I've ever even owned. He'd shave his legs four times more than I do, which even then is so insane I think he'd be officially a 'hairophobe'. He'd use the shower ten times more a day than-'

'Seriously, when did you mind travel to the gutter so quickly?' Charlotte asked, falling forwards slightly, as the train began skidding to a halt.

Lily sat as Charlotte began clearing out the compartment. She frowned, 'What did you mean by that comment that I'm the same with girls that follow him around?'

'Think about every previous girlfriend he's had, and what you did, or wanted, to do to them…' Charlotte sighed, scratching her pet cat Delilah behind the ear. The cat was sitting snugly in the crook her Charlotte's arm, happily purring away.

And she did think. Every single one she had indeed threatened, but because they were giggly, annoying, self-absorbed, and no where near good en –'Oh my god…' Lily muttered, clutching to the train seat all of a sudden, afraid it would fling her out the window. Why, that… that wasn't apparent to her. 'I – No, I just hate seeing him with – no, no, no I meant – none of them were good enough – it's – it's -' Lily spluttered, sick of how many times she had been rendered speechless. It was really starting to become a bother.

'It's what exactly?' Charlotte said smugly, and although Lily couldn't see her face, she assumed there was a satirised smile. Charlotte was too busy fighting the crowd that was rushing through the corridor.

'I hate you sometimes, Charlotte.' Lily muttered while grasping at the small, sedated cat sitting in the bag rack. 'Lucifer come down.' She muttered, trying not to yank too hard on the cat.

'You just hate me being right.' Charlotte muttered, handing the small ginger cat down to Lily before turning and heading out the compartment door.

Lily frowned again. She really did hate Charlotte being right. 'Wait, no, no way, you aren't right! Charlotte, you aren't right!' Lily called after Charlotte, stumbling over the eager first-years along the way. Her stomach was making protests of it's own, as she realized that she hadn't eaten on the train. Perhaps the cookie would've been a – no, she was not even close to being **that** hungry. So, with a few bounds and leaps over and under things, Lily caught with Charlotte and her large strides. Well, Charlotte and Doug, actually. The two spared no time becoming the meld of a couple, arms entangled and Delilah happily purring in the middle.


End file.
